Settlement is secret no longer as KC transit agency hands over suppressed documents
Two days after reversing a policy exempting itself from state open records laws, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority provided The Star with the legal settlement agreement that it had tried to suppress under that guideline.
The ATA also released Friday details of the theft investigation that was central to the lawsuit that was dismissed as a result of that $135,000 settlement payment.
The Star asked for that information through an open records request under the Missouri Sunshine law a month ago. The agency refused to release the settlement amount and other details in late May, asserting that it was not subject to the open records or open meetings laws in either Missouri or Kansas.
But that stance changed after The Star published an article a week ago about the ATA's legal interpretation of its obligations as a bi-state compact.
While agreeing that the ATA might have a legal right to withhold information, Johnson County commissioners expressed concern about the lack of transparency. One even suggested that the county might end its contract for bus service with the agency if it didn't reverse the Jan. 24 policy that ended its decades long practice of following the Missouri Sunshine Law.
On Wednesday, the ATA did just that and said it would from now on follow the open records and open meetings laws of Kansas and Missouri, even though there was no legal requirement to do so.
The 2017 settlement The Star requested was between the ATA and its former chief human resources officer, Jimmy Fight, who was fired in August 2016. Fight claimed in a 2016 lawsuit that he was wrongfully terminated that year because he'd insisted that the transportation authority bring in the FBI or another agency to investigate allegations that employees were stealing tools, parts and other materials from the agency.
In exchange for Fight dropping his lawsuit and keeping silent about the settlement, the ATA and its insurance company paid Fight $90,000 and his attorney, Lynne Bratcher, $45,000, according to the agreement.
The theft allegations in Fight's lawsuit were always a matter of public record, but the suit did not detail the scope of the problem within the agency's procurement and maintenance departments.
On Friday, an ATA spokeswoman sent The Star an email on behalf of the ATA board of commissioners defending the thoroughness of the agency's internal investigation into the matter.
"All issues related to this investigation were handled in an appropriate, consistent manner to assure public confidence and trust," the board said. "The theft was reported to senior management by a storeroom supervisor. An outside investigator was hired. A thorough, in-depth investigation was completed."
The board said the theft involved a rehabbed engine part valued at less than $500.
"As a result of the investigation, three people left employment at the KCATA," the board said.
No charges were ever filed.
This story was originally published June 8, 2018 at 1:43 PM with the headline "Settlement is secret no longer as KC transit agency hands over suppressed documents."